How to avoid most common mistakes in KFC SuperCoach

Inexperienced — and experienced — KFC SuperCoach players fall into the same traps every year. Here’s how to dodge them and get ahead of your mates.

If you’re playing KFC SuperCoach for the first time, or returning after a break, it can be a daunting experience.

There are plenty of pitfalls and speed bumps that can derail your season. Hopefully I can help you dodge some of them on your way to glory!

FINDING VALUE

When you select your opening side they key is value. It is very tempting to select all the players who were the best performers last season. The problem with this is that they will be fully priced and you will burn through your salary cap quicker than a Tom Mitchell handball.

What you need to do is look for those guys that have had a slightly down year for a particular reason that is no longer a concern (Patrick Cripps could fall into this category) or are coming off an injury-affected season (not too injured, we want them to have fully recovered).

These are the players who will be priced lower than what they can potentially score. By selecting these players you can squeeze more premiums into your starting squad and cut down on the risky lower-priced and rookie players that you need to fill out your side.

EXERT RANKINGS: BEST VALUE PICKS IN KFC SUPERCOACH

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Patrick Cripps could be ready to bounce back after a down year.

The Bulldogs team will be a hard one for No.1 draft pick Jamarra Ugle-Hagan to break into.

ROOKIE ERRORS

While we are talking rookies, don’t just jump on the top draft picks.

Firstly, they are going to be the most expensive of the rookie players, and, secondly, not all of them are guaranteed a spot in their side’s best 22.

Look for the young players that are coming into a team that is in need of players in their position or are rebuilding. A team like North Melbourne is likely to play more first-year players, as they delisted 11 players last year and will need to give these guys a go. That could make midfielders Tom Powell ($153,300 MID), Will Phillips ($198,300 MID) and Charlie Lazzaro ($117,300 MID) great picks in SuperCoach.

At the other end of the scale we have teams like Port, Richmond, Geelong and Brisbane who have very settled teams and apart from a couple of retirements, don’t have too many spots available.

Also look for players who have been recruited for a specific role or who could get an opportunity through injury. Mature-age recruits are ideal candidates in this situation — James Rowe ($117,300 FWD) could fill a need as a small forward at Adelaide and Tom Highmore ($117,300 DEF) is a ready-made replacement for St Kilda’s injured defenders. Both players scored well in the SANFL last season.

KNOW THE FIXTURE

This is going to be especially critical in season 2021. With the AFL only releasing the timing of the games in six-week blocks you will need to be on your toes.

As you head into each round, make sure you know when each of your players is playing. In KFC SuperCoach we have what is known as a rolling lockout. This means that each player is locked into position when the ball is bounced in their game — until then they can be traded or moved on and off the bench.

If you have missed making a move it could result in you missing out on some big points.

DON’T CHASE POINTS

How often do we see someone become the most traded in player in SuperCoach the week after they produce a big score?

If they are a tried and tested premium player you could take the risk, but if they are a mid-priced player that just happens to have a big game, don’t chase those points.

The points he scored last week are already gone and the odds of them repeating that performance the following game are slim.

If you see a player that you haven’t had your eye on making a 110-plus score when they have averaged somewhere in the 70s for the rest of the season, you need to look at what caused it. Was a star of their side missing? Were they playing an easy team to score against? Did they have a role change?

Answering these questions should help you decide whether this was a one-off or whether it is a sign of things to come. No matter what the answers are, we should always try and get a sample of two or three games at that level before jumping on them.

EXPERT TIPS: WHAT IT TAKES TO FINISH TOP FIVE IN SUPERCOACH

Tim English scored 204 KFC SuperCoach points in a game last year — then scored 73 and 50 the next two weeks. Not ideal if you traded him in. Picture: Michael Klein

DON’T GO EARLY ON ROOKIES

Prices in KFC SuperCoach don’t change until after a player has played two games. Use those two games to evaluate a rookie before bringing them in.

This is most important early in the season. You don’t want to get stuck with someone that has a poor first or second game and then gets dropped, leaving you with an issue of a non-playing player that you have to either trade out or hide on your bench.

This is often one of the biggest points of concern for coaches as they are stuck with a basement priced rookie that hasn’t gone up in value and has no likelihood of getting a game in the near future.

As we get to the very end of the season you can be excused for going early as at that stage of the year you are generally just making a trade for cash to put another premium on your field.

EMERGENCY, EMERGENCY!

This is often an area that gets forgotten about as a lockout approaches. Too many times we seen coaches forget to select an emergency, which leaves them exposed when they have a late out in their side. Or they have a non-playing player selected when a perfectly healthy guy is sitting there doing nothing.

If one of your starting 22 doesn’t play you will get the emergency player score, so make sure you have them selected before the round starts.

Another mistake we see a lot of rookies make is putting the emergency on two players from the same position, particularly in the midfield. If you have a late out in a line with two emergencies on it, you get the LOWER of the two scores! Many new players think that they will get the best score and are having a double dip at it, but no, it is the lower of the two that will count if one of your players is a late out. So unless you have two late outs in the one line, just keep it to one emergency.

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If bench players like Crows Riley Thilthorpe and James Rowe get a game, make sure you nominate one as an Emergency before the round stars.

DON’T BLOW ALL YOUR TRADES EARLY

You only get 30 trades for the season. Burning two each week means you won’t make it to the end of the season, which is where you need them the most.

Sometimes the best move to make is to not trade at all. Most experienced coaches won’t trade after the first week because it is just one game and prices won’t change until after another game, so they can afford to wait and see what happens.

It is very important when trading your rookies to watch them and wait until they have reached their maximum value before trading them out. To know when the right time is you need to keep an eye on their break-even — this is the score they need each week to reach to maintain their value. Once their break-even is higher than their average then it is time to move them on. You can see every player’s break-even in SuperCoach Plus.

A WARNING ON REVERSING TRADES

As you tinker with your team each week you will probably make some test trades and then reverse them.

Just make sure that after you have hit the “Reverse Trades” button you check ALL parts of your team, as it will be fully reset to how it looked at the end of the previous round. So this means you should check who is on your bench, and who your captain is, each and every time so you don’t get caught out.

Follow these few simple rules and you can hopefully enjoy a successful KFC SuperCoach season and avoid some of the most common pitfalls.

Originally published as How to avoid most common mistakes in KFC SuperCoach